Introduction In order to have a 21st-century learning environment where students are are able to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the digital age, collaboration between teacher librarians and classroom teachers is essential. The task is a great one and impossible to accomplish alone. With the teacher librarian’s help, students, teachers, librarians themselves, and administrators benefit when collaboration occurs.
Benefits for Students
In Empowering Learners, the AASL asserts that the evidence of a strong library program is focused on what the students learn instead of what the library program does (AASL, 42). Therefore, the presence of a teacher librarian that collaborates with teachers to deliver high quality first instruction, is essential to the academic achievement of students. In a study done of 60 California schools, students' reading achievement in reading comprehension and vocabulary was highly impacted by the implementation of collaborative planning between teachers and school librarians (Farmer 30). Teacher librarians working collaboratively with teachers are able to give students more individualized attention because instead of just one teacher, students have two teachers helping them learn (Kindergarten Teacher). When teacher librarians help classroom teachers incorporate the information literacy standards into their teacher, student learn researching skill, how to cite their work, and presentation skills (7th Grade Language Arts Teacher). As students delve into the research process, they are not only learning to become effective collaborators, but they getting involved in learning experiences that are meaningful (8th Grade Language Arts Teacher). In her article, "The School Librarian as Teacher: What kind of teacher are You", Hamilton states that as teacher librarians lead small group activities in the library, students will learn to work in a collaborative setting and will gain a deeper understanding of the content they are researching (Hamilton 37).
Benefits for Teachers
While students are the intended primary beneficiary, classroom teachers also reap the rewards of teacher-librarian collaboration. School librarians have both instructional materials and curricular ideas they bring to collaborative planning sessions to offer as teacher support (Kimmel 91). For example, Kelly, a secondary English pre-service teacher explains how the school librarian was able to provide ideas that helped her improve her project idea and also provide a sample rubric to plan for student assessment (High School Student Teacher). Kelly’s initial purpose in working with the librarian - to use the library space and resources - is a common, valuable service school librarians provide, but the librarian’s ability to provide instructional support in the form of ideas and suggestions is a much more rare occurrence.
The school librarian not only assists teachers in planning, but they also use that experience to support classroom learning. This classroom support can be as simple as recognizing vocabulary the teacher uses and incorporating the same language into library lessons (8th-grade Language Arts Teacher) or more involved, such as co-teaching a lesson or sharing the assessment responsibilities of a research project (High School Student Teacher). Teacher-Librarian collaboration at this level helps the teacher by connecting with classroom learning and sharing the teacher’s workload. In my experience with school librarians this level of collaboration rarely happens, and when it does, the school librarian ends up taking on most of the instructional responsibility and the classroom teacher’s involvement resembles crowd control more than co-teaching.
When classroom teachers and school librarians are able to implement co-teaching experiences, the classroom teacher benefits as much as the student. The opportunity to work side-by-side with another professional educator creates what Moreillon calls “job-embedded” professional development (7). Teachers are able to see how the librarian works in real time with the teacher’s actual students using the teacher’s taught curriculum (Moreillon and Ballard 6). When speaking of school librarians, principal Paula Godfrey says school librarians “teach teachers to be better at their craft” through collaboration and professional development (Principals Know). Mary Ann Nichols, a middle school language arts teacher, reinforces this idea in her description of the new things she learned while co-teaching with her school librarian (7th-grade Language Arts Teacher). While we have not observed true co-teaching in our educational experiences, we have seen that teachers who participate in library lessons are learning from their experiences with the school librarian. Increasing the collaboration between the teacher and librarian would provide even more opportunity for professional development.
Benefits for Librarians Collaborative partnerships benefit librarians as much as they benefit students and teachers. The librarian can assume the learner role when working with students, teachers, and other educators. For example, students may introduce the librarian to a new technology that the librarian, in turn, demonstrates to teachers for use in the classroom (AASL 20). Like teachers, librarians also have professional growth opportunities from “co-teaching and co-assessment of student learning” in side-by-side collaborative projects (Moreillon 8).
Teacher-librarian collaboration also aids librarians in developing leadership skills. Empowering learning through leadership is one of the guidelines for school library programs established by the AASL (45). Partnering with teachers establishes the librarian as an instructional leader on campus (Moreillon and Ballard 6), strengthening relationships with teachers in all content areas. By working with teachers across the curriculum, librarians develop a “global perspective of the school” (“Elementary Principal”) and can truly make a difference for all members of the school community.
Benefits for Administrators
As the leaders of a school, administrators can impact the way teacher librarians are viewed by their peers (Zmuda and Harada 27). But ultimately, many administrators feel that it is up the the teacher librarian to show how they can make a difference in the achievement of students (Church 25). When librarians are "lifelong learners," an "advocate for the program," and "a team player who volunteers to participate in the collaborative process," administrators' views of librarians are nothing but positive (Church 19). As lifelong learners, teacher librarians are constantly learning something new, and administrators benefit from that by having them collaborate in the professional development of teachers. Virginia elementary school principals agreed that building the capacity of the staff in use of technology, effective Web searching, use of databases (to students, parents, and staff), intellectual property, and copyright are among the type of staff development that teacher librarians should provide (Church 13). Administrators like Godfrey notice the role the teacher librarian plays in a school. She attests that "there is no one else that impacts the academic achievement of every single child in the building" (Elementary Principal). By involving themselves in curriculum development and assessment design, teacher librarians gain a global perspective of what is being taught to the students and are, therefore, better equipped to offer support and resources to teachers as they collaboratively plan engaging lessons (Church 22). McGregor also addresses this idea stating that as a leader creating a culture of collaboration, the teacher librarian should be aware of the needs of both students and staff and be prepared to offer resources and ideas to meet those needs (204). When looking at how collaboration between the school librarian and the teacher benefits students, teachers, and the librarian, one can easily see that these benefits greatly impact the administration as well. Student achievement is a goal that is shared by all stakeholders in a community.
Conclusion
The pressures of today’s educational climate--filled with high-stakes testing, 21st-century skills, and No Child Left Behind--are enough to crush the joy of teaching and learning for any educational professional, especially if such a daunting task is tackled alone. Collaboration between the school librarian and the teacher forms partnerships that benefit students, teachers, the librarian, and administrators, leading everyone to the primary goal--student achievement. Teacher-librarian collaboration is a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Works Cited American Association of School Librarians. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009. Print. Church, Audrey P. "The Instructional Role of the Library Media Specialist as Perceived by Elementary School Principals." School Library Media Research 11 (2008)Web. <http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol11/SLMR_InstructionalRole_V11.pdf> Farmer, Lesley S. J. "Library Media Program Implementation and Student Achievement." Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 38.1 (2006): 21-32. Web. <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2810/content/38/1/21> Hamilton, Buffy J. "The School Librarian as Teacher: What Kind of Teacher are You?" Knowledge Quest 39.5 (2011): 34-40. Web. Kimmel, Sue C. "Seeing the Clouds: Teacher Librarian as Broker in Collaborative Planning with Teachers." School Libraries Worldwide18.1 (2012): 87-96. LISTA with Full Text. Web. 19 Sept. 2015. <__http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2225/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=039a5beb-c4ad-4d91-8d2b-7f9e95b48c36%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=124__> McGregor, Joy. "Collaboration and Leadership." Curriculum Connections through the Library. Eds. Barbara K. Stripling and Sandra Hughes-Hassell.Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. 119-219. Moreillon, Judi, and Susan D. Ballard. "Coteaching: A Pathway to Leadership." Knowledge Quest 40.4 (2012): Sept. 11, 2015,6-9. Web. Zmuda, Allison, and Violet H. Harada. "The Learning Specialist: Clarifying the Role of Library Media Specialists." Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century. Eds. Allison Zmuda and Violet H. Harada. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 23 – 43. Print.
Introduction
In order to have a 21st-century learning environment where students are are able to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the digital age, collaboration between teacher librarians and classroom teachers is essential. The task is a great one and impossible to accomplish alone. With the teacher librarian’s help, students, teachers, librarians themselves, and administrators benefit when collaboration occurs.
Benefits for Students
In Empowering Learners, the AASL asserts that the evidence of a strong library program is focused on what the students learn instead of what the library program does (AASL, 42). Therefore, the presence of a teacher librarian that collaborates with teachers to deliver high quality first instruction, is essential to the academic achievement of students. In a study done of 60 California schools, students' reading achievement in reading comprehension and vocabulary was highly impacted by the implementation of collaborative planning between teachers and school librarians (Farmer 30). Teacher librarians working collaboratively with teachers are able to give students more individualized attention because instead of just one teacher, students have two teachers helping them learn (Kindergarten Teacher). When teacher librarians help classroom teachers incorporate the information literacy standards into their teacher, student learn researching skill, how to cite their work, and presentation skills (7th Grade Language Arts Teacher). As students delve into the research process, they are not only learning to become effective collaborators, but they getting involved in learning experiences that are meaningful (8th Grade Language Arts Teacher). In her article, "The School Librarian as Teacher: What kind of teacher are You", Hamilton states that as teacher librarians lead small group activities in the library, students will learn to work in a collaborative setting and will gain a deeper understanding of the content they are researching (Hamilton 37).
Benefits for Teachers
While students are the intended primary beneficiary, classroom teachers also reap the rewards of teacher-librarian collaboration. School librarians have both instructional materials and curricular ideas they bring to collaborative planning sessions to offer as teacher support (Kimmel 91). For example, Kelly, a secondary English pre-service teacher explains how the school librarian was able to provide ideas that helped her improve her project idea and also provide a sample rubric to plan for student assessment (High School Student Teacher). Kelly’s initial purpose in working with the librarian - to use the library space and resources - is a common, valuable service school librarians provide, but the librarian’s ability to provide instructional support in the form of ideas and suggestions is a much more rare occurrence.
The school librarian not only assists teachers in planning, but they also use that experience to support classroom learning. This classroom support can be as simple as recognizing vocabulary the teacher uses and incorporating the same language into library lessons (8th-grade Language Arts Teacher) or more involved, such as co-teaching a lesson or sharing the assessment responsibilities of a research project (High School Student Teacher). Teacher-Librarian collaboration at this level helps the teacher by connecting with classroom learning and sharing the teacher’s workload. In my experience with school librarians this level of collaboration rarely happens, and when it does, the school librarian ends up taking on most of the instructional responsibility and the classroom teacher’s involvement resembles crowd control more than co-teaching.
When classroom teachers and school librarians are able to implement co-teaching experiences, the classroom teacher benefits as much as the student. The opportunity to work side-by-side with another professional educator creates what Moreillon calls “job-embedded” professional development (7). Teachers are able to see how the librarian works in real time with the teacher’s actual students using the teacher’s taught curriculum (Moreillon and Ballard 6). When speaking of school librarians, principal Paula Godfrey says school librarians “teach teachers to be better at their craft” through collaboration and professional development (Principals Know). Mary Ann Nichols, a middle school language arts teacher, reinforces this idea in her description of the new things she learned while co-teaching with her school librarian (7th-grade Language Arts Teacher). While we have not observed true co-teaching in our educational experiences, we have seen that teachers who participate in library lessons are learning from their experiences with the school librarian. Increasing the collaboration between the teacher and librarian would provide even more opportunity for professional development.
Benefits for Librarians
Collaborative partnerships benefit librarians as much as they benefit students and teachers. The librarian can assume the learner role when working with students, teachers, and other educators. For example, students may introduce the librarian to a new technology that the librarian, in turn, demonstrates to teachers for use in the classroom (AASL 20). Like teachers, librarians also have professional growth opportunities from “co-teaching and co-assessment of student learning” in side-by-side collaborative projects (Moreillon 8).
Teacher-librarian collaboration also aids librarians in developing leadership skills. Empowering learning through leadership is one of the guidelines for school library programs established by the AASL (45). Partnering with teachers establishes the librarian as an instructional leader on campus (Moreillon and Ballard 6), strengthening relationships with teachers in all content areas. By working with teachers across the curriculum, librarians develop a “global perspective of the school” (“Elementary Principal”) and can truly make a difference for all members of the school community.
Benefits for Administrators
As the leaders of a school, administrators can impact the way teacher librarians are viewed by their peers (Zmuda and Harada 27). But ultimately, many administrators feel that it is up the the teacher librarian to show how they can make a difference in the achievement of students (Church 25). When librarians are "lifelong learners," an "advocate for the program," and "a team player who volunteers to participate in the collaborative process," administrators' views of librarians are nothing but positive (Church 19). As lifelong learners, teacher librarians are constantly learning something new, and administrators benefit from that by having them collaborate in the professional development of teachers. Virginia elementary school principals agreed that building the capacity of the staff in use of technology, effective Web searching, use of databases (to students, parents, and staff), intellectual property, and copyright are among the type of staff development that teacher librarians should provide (Church 13).
Administrators like Godfrey notice the role the teacher librarian plays in a school. She attests that "there is no one else that impacts the academic achievement of every single child in the building" (Elementary Principal). By involving themselves in curriculum development and assessment design, teacher librarians gain a global perspective of what is being taught to the students and are, therefore, better equipped to offer support and resources to teachers as they collaboratively plan engaging lessons (Church 22). McGregor also addresses this idea stating that as a leader creating a culture of collaboration, the teacher librarian should be aware of the needs of both students and staff and be prepared to offer resources and ideas to meet those needs (204). When looking at how collaboration between the school librarian and the teacher benefits students, teachers, and the librarian, one can easily see that these benefits greatly impact the administration as well. Student achievement is a goal that is shared by all stakeholders in a community.
Conclusion
The pressures of today’s educational climate--filled with high-stakes testing, 21st-century skills, and No Child Left Behind--are enough to crush the joy of teaching and learning for any educational professional, especially if such a daunting task is tackled alone. Collaboration between the school librarian and the teacher forms partnerships that benefit students, teachers, the librarian, and administrators, leading everyone to the primary goal--student achievement. Teacher-librarian collaboration is a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Works Cited
American Association of School Librarians. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009. Print.
Church, Audrey P. "The Instructional Role of the Library Media Specialist as Perceived by Elementary School Principals." School Library Media Research 11 (2008)Web. <http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol11/SLMR_InstructionalRole_V11.pdf>
Farmer, Lesley S. J. "Library Media Program Implementation and Student Achievement." Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 38.1 (2006): 21-32. Web. <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2810/content/38/1/21>
Hamilton, Buffy J. "The School Librarian as Teacher: What Kind of Teacher are You?" Knowledge Quest 39.5 (2011): 34-40. Web.
Kimmel, Sue C. "Seeing the Clouds: Teacher Librarian as Broker in Collaborative Planning with Teachers." School Libraries Worldwide18.1 (2012): 87-96. LISTA with Full Text. Web. 19 Sept. 2015. <__http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2225/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=039a5beb-c4ad-4d91-8d2b-7f9e95b48c36%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=124__>
McGregor, Joy. "Collaboration and Leadership." Curriculum Connections through the Library. Eds. Barbara K. Stripling and Sandra Hughes-Hassell.Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. 119-219.
Moreillon, Judi, and Susan D. Ballard. "Coteaching: A Pathway to Leadership." Knowledge Quest 40.4 (2012): Sept. 11, 2015,6-9. Web.
Zmuda, Allison, and Violet H. Harada. "The Learning Specialist: Clarifying the Role of Library Media Specialists." Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century. Eds. Allison Zmuda and Violet H. Harada. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 23 – 43. Print.